I thought it was great. All ready to hate on these bright young things, but more power to them.

I wanted to see the half height basement when done, so disappointed about that. Also those stairs looked like an accident waiting to happen.

I liked the cedar cladding; it looked as if he had had it polished. There’s a farm near Lancaster that is almost buried under thousands of tons of massive cedar beams that were recovered from demolished Lancashire mills; we went there for two mantlepieces and the bloke just chopped them for us with a chainsaw while standing on a 6′ mountain of sawdust and offcuts. I would like to go back for another look around but can’t remember where the hell it was.

I am still one behind so just caught up with the bloody awful one in the Peak District – I appreciate they ran out of money but they seemed to have spent a painful amount just to get to where they did before running out. It looked dreary, dull and depressing and had very little intrinsic design value either. Good location though.

10 years!

Not quite my taste in finish and I admire the craftsmanship, but still!

Self indulgent.

So how did it get planning?
How did they survive for 10 years without working?

10yrs, but wow! Phenomenal.

No building regs? How do you make it habitable or do you just not bother?

Only has to pass building regs in force from when it was started.

Found this one quite frustrating. If he’d simplified a few things he could’ve got his family out of their cramped temporary accommodation about eight years earlier. It still wasn’t finished after ten years.

for all the new age hippy bollox it wasn’t very “homely”. Also the lack of an overall plan and design was pretty evident in front door didn’t open fully as bashed into the angled wall behind.

A hippie Hobbit’s decade long masturbatory project. Left me feeling sad.

Great craftsmanship, can’t knock that. Do wonder over the utterly self indulgent nature of it. And where do they get their money from? All those children at school, brand name clothing, contractors, and his accent was suggestive of breeding. I liked him, and his children were great. It would have been nice to see his furniture designs, as I bet they funded this. Not my cup of tea, yet you have to admire it as the ultimate post-hippie off-grid living.

Double post…..

Haven’t seen the programme, but the images look absolutely stunning.
Will have to watch.

I wonder if kayak from this parish saw it.

Contrary to the previous posts about ‘hippy bollocks’ etc, I thought it was a stunning house and I totally got their outlook and approach to the build and to life in general.
OK it took him years but did you detect a single atom of stress or unhappiness in any member of that family? Even the bit about not really worrying about the kids moving out or the future.
Brilliant.

I’ll admit, I was wrong to presume the hippy stuff comment I made before. I do admire the work that has been put into the house.

I like the overall design and layout of the house. I like the materials.

but

the lack of symmetry in that entrance hall roof space would burst my brain! It would grate against the symmetry of the glass itself and I would forever be noticing it.

Good on them though for the work.

I’ll explain why I felt it was self indulgent and clarify my feelings.

I said I felt sad by the end. I had for a fair bit felt angry at his selfishness but came to see the life style worked for him and his family and they seemed very content. So my anger changed to just sadness that the house wasn’t done to be enjoyed by the family as kids grew up.

Although he clearly felt the kids had benefited ‘from the experience of the build’ neither the kids, nor the wife, seemed very engaged, not until they moved in and were doing some decorating, even then it was not significant engagement. The house was the guy’s design and build playtime.

For me the finished house was far too hippie hobbit design. I loved bits, the view, the window, the slate floor, the wood floor. I admired the craftsmanship. I just felt totally overpowered by the live edge/natural split grain wibbly wobbly wood everywhere, and for me it really grated against bits that were geometric …the window looked like a warped parabola and the ‘geodesic vaulted ceiling’ was grossly deformed. I’d have adored beyond measure both of those done in planed timber and symmetrically, but this is just a matter of personal taste.

You’re just jealous…

🙂

Superb craftsman – some really nice touches and finishing detail. I even dreamed about him and his house last night (nothing weird).

That’ll teach me to drink on a week night.

In regards to the comments about the children missing out; they did say that they fully expected their children to move back home and take over the main house when they were ready to settle down and start their own families. They seem to believe that the journey is the important part, not the end point, an alternative view to most in modern life.

I thought it was possibly quite telling that the programme didn’t include any of the children actually saying anything in Kevin’s final visit to the finished house – just one shot of one of them working in her bedroom.

It was only by the end of the programme that I realised the house was incidental.

Very interesting some of the negative comments against the dad and the family.
My dad spent the first 23 years of my life renovating the farmhouse I grew up in, pretty much from the ground up.
We didn’t have working central heating till I was 16, had periods without floors or a kitchen, spent time where me or my siblings were sharing rooms, we had animals and grew things to eat.
There’s a lot of crossover between that family and mine (except my parents still worked in decent FE jobs the whole time).
We had a great time growing up like that, it never felt like we were in the middle of my dad’s ‘narsasistic’ project.

Not for me that one… i think i lasted 4 mins at the start and watched the last few minutes too… Blleeeeeuurrrghhh

Absolutely stunning, the craftsmanship and love that went into the house was sublime and proper mend & make do environmentalism too – think the rope pulley light switch was going a bit far though..

I thought it was stunning, the comments on here about things not being straight bemuse me no end! I don’t think I’ve seen a happier family on GD either. I bet their kids will grow up with some pretty amazing skills too.

If the dome above the main hall had been all even it would have looked terrible!

That was the first I’d watched in ages and it was ace. GD got very formulaic where poncy architect type/over entitled partner splurge multi £m on horrible indulgent box/civic centre lookalike then do post build smugary over tea with our Kev.

It was nice to see people enjoying themselves without all the silly jeopardy and nonsense that GD has become.

Hope the next is as good or we’ll have to go dormant again.

GD got very formulaic where poncy architect type/over entitled partner splurge multi £m on horrible indulgent box/civic centre lookalike then do post build smugary over tea with our Kev.

You forgot …before putting it on the market.

Hope the next is as good or we’ll have to go dormant again.

That was the last in this series I think.

Not for me, but admire the endeavour/skills.

Magnificent. Just totally loved the build and the whole families attitude to it.

PSA: New series starts tonight at 9pm

Optimistic budget ✅

optimistic time frame ✅

potential to go wrong ✅

should be good

have dead bodies ever stymied a build before?

Lass is up the duff before Kevin finished his intro. Quick work.

Have the windows arrived from Germany yet?

#visitorcentre

Once again highlighting how shit our planning laws really are..

You can restore it but not add to it.. 🙄

The guy should be getting a grant to help to restore it, not getting dry bummed to the tune of  £500+ a day for the pleasure of the archaeologist telling him what’s down there.

Lass is up the duff before Kevin finished his intro. Quick work.

His powers are increased by absence from our screens!  He’s a walking fertility god!

Have the windows arrived from Germany yet?

Don’t trot out that repetitive trope….

But have they?

Christ knows what’s going to happen to Grand Designs Windows post Brexit?

I can see those kids having a great time playing on that lovely staircase…

Building regs different for some buildings?

Kev is wearing Eddy the Eagles specs!